Without a backward glance

the long version

Christmas Eve 1967: the night the lives of the McDonaldchildren, Deborah, Robert, James, and Meredith, changedforever. Th eir mother, Rosemarie, told them she wasrunning out to buy more lights for the tree. Instead, sheboarded a plane bound for London, leaving the childrenwith their father and the gnawing question: Why did theirmother abandon them?Over the years the siblings have become practiced inconcealing their pain, remaining close into adulthood andforming their own families. But long-closed wounds arereopened and secrets that each sibling has locked awaycome to light, as their father progresses into dementia andJames encounters Rosemarie after nearly forty years of herabsence. Veitch's family portrait reveals the joys and sorrows,the complexity and ambiguity of family life, and poignantlyprobes what it means to love and what it means to leave.